1. Field of the Invention
THIS INVENTION relates to a shopping trolley.
The invention particularly relates, but is not limited to, a shopping trolley designed to be nested with similar trolleys when not in use.
2. Prior Art
Current shopping trolleys have a number of defects. Examples of the current defects are:
a) they are hard to steer, push and control—one only needs to observe elderly, and even young, people using existing trolleys to see this, either laden or unladen;
b) they damage vehicles and shopping centres;
c) the current design allows children to stand on the base wheel frame and hang off the sides, making the trolleys unstable and dangerous;
d) they are noisy—a function of their construction from metal and of current wheel design that promotes “shudder”;
e) no shelves or different levels or hooks upon which a shopper can place food items susceptible to damage from being squashed by other items subsequently placed in the trolley or from children riding in the trolley are provided; and
f) they have limited means for attaching advertising to the trolley and have limited surface area to provide effective advertising upon.
Attempts have been made to minimise the defects by using new types of construction, including trolleys having baskets moulded of plastics materials. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,696 (De LUNA) and U.S. D 444,281 S (GAZE et al).
While these shopping trolleys have reduced or ameliorated some of the defects, they have not provided a successful answer.